KU position holders and gold medal

KU position holders to protest over refusal of gold medal
Karachi, Dec 19: Karachi University (KU) BS students who have secured top positions in their examinations will formally
launch a protest campaign on Tuesday against the non-issuance of gold medals to
them.

During the institute's 22nd convocation held on Saturday, BS
students handed over a letter of demands to Professor Dr Khalid Iraqi, who
promised to arrange a meeting of students with Vice Chancellor (VC) Pirzada
Qasim.

One of the demands was the issuance of a "letter of
acknowledgement" to the BS position holders, citing reasons for not awarding
them with gold medals. However, the VC office was not aware of any such letter.

"When we protested during the convocation, Professor Iraqi made false
promises to hush up the matter. We tried contacting him on Monday to follow up
on the issue and neither him nor the VC was available," a BS degree holder
lamented.

Sonia Javed, like many others, did not attend the convocation
in protest. "I intend to join the demonstration against this injustice to BS
students," she said.

On the other hand, Dr Iraqi said that he had given
his word to arrange a meeting between two BS students and Pirzada Qasim on
Tuesday so that the VC could be informed of the students' grievances.

First female dean at Islamic Studies faculty
Karachi: Prof Dr Rehana Firdous has been appointed as
the first female Dean of the Faculty of Islamic Studies at the University of
Karachi (KU). A notification issued on Monday said that Dr Firdous was appointed
as Dean on November 14. She received her PhD degree from the University of
London in 1990 on the Quaid-e-Azam Merit Scholarship. She has been associated
with the Department of Islamic Studies since 1992. Meanwhile, Prof Dr Shakeel
Auj has been appointed as Chairman of the Department of Islamic Learning, KU.

New BSEK chief
Karachi: Professor Muhammad Saeed Siddiqui is to hold dual office as he took charge of the Board of
Secondary Education Karachi (BSEK) as the new chairman for the next three years
on Monday.

Exam boards decide against accepting external influence
Karachi: Representatives of the examination boards in Sindh have unanimously decided that they would not allow
any external influence to affect the process and results of examinations.

This decision was made public in an announcement by the Chairman of the
Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK), Anwar Ahmed Zai, at a conference
held by the BIEK on Monday.

The conference was held to review the
examination system and was attended by the representatives of all educational
boards, including chairmen, controllers of examinations, the director general
colleges, and the director of the Directorate of Private Institutions Sindh, as
well as representatives of school and college teachers' associations.

Zai, who is also the chairman of the Committee of Chairmen (CoC) of the
Sindh Educational Board, said that the examination boards would not change the
final result, no matter how much students demonstrated or protested.

"An
objective analysis of the current examination system was made at the conference
and the participants discussed several important issues. Emphasis was put on the
need to re-evaluate the examination system and to facilitate measures that would
ensure transparency, validity and authenticity of the results," he
said.

"During the conference, all the participants accepted the proposal
that examination boards should not accept any external pressure and that they
should get media support to remove the misconception among parents about the
examination boards."

Zai further said: "It should be noted that the
results of thousands of candidates were changed after a series of demonstrations
were launched by the students against the board's office. But such a thing would
not happen in Sindh, where there is a far better policy and examination system
than in other parts of the country."

"Copy assessment is carried out by
senior teachers while the staff of the examination board has command over
administrative matters. This is done to reduce the chance of the error during
the checking process," he mentioned.

The students of classes IX, X, XI
and XII will be briefed about the new examination pattern at the time of their
admissions. Meanwhile, the examination boards will conduct workshops for
teachers, paper-setters, invigilators and other concerned persons to implement a
uniform standard during the exams.

The examination boards have decided
not to accept the examination forms of candidates who fail to get a score of
less than 75 percent. The participants also agreed that the examination boards
would impose fines on examiners or copy checkers who committed mistakes during
answer-sheet checking and that such persons would be blacklisted if found guilty
of committing recurring mistakes.

"If a student has a legitimate reason
to call for a review of their exam, then they should approach the concerned
board office and apply for a review rather than staging a protest against the
examination board. Students will be entertained according to the established
procedure and board offices will not change any result because of demonstration
or protest," Zai declared. The news

Student injured in clash between rival organisations
Karachi: A student was injured in a clash, which erupted between the activists of rival student organisations here at the Govt National
College in the precincts of New Town police station on Monday. The
skirmish took place between the activists of Islami Jamiat Talba (IJT)
and Pakhtoon Students Federation (PkSF) apparently as an offshoot of the
recent clashes that broke out at different colleges of the city. SHO
Aslam Jutt said Waseem Ahmed, an activist of PkSF was shot at and
injured in the clash. Following the incident, a heavy contingent of law
enforcement agencies reached the scene, however, the agitators had
dispersed and no arrest could be made. Police officials said that the
students of the college called help line 15 and police immediately
rushed to the scene and controlled the situation. Jutt was shifted to
the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for treatment and no case could
be registered till filing of this report. Daily times

Cambridge announces names of award winners
Karachi: The University of Cambridge's Board of International Examinations has announced the winners of the
Outstanding Cambridge Learner Awards, Pakistan. The awards are announced to
celebrate the outstanding academic achievements of secondary school learners in
Pakistan in the June 2011 Cambridge examination series.

A number of
schools across the country will be holding individual awards ceremonies for
their students. There are over 280 students that have achieved excellence
awards, with 50 students achieving the highest marks in the world and 40
attaining the highest in the country in their respective subjects.

Honorable mentions include Sohail Idrees from Lahore Grammar School who
achieved "top in the world" in O Level Add. Math, Biology, Business Studies,
Mathematics and Physics; Urwat Til Vaqsa from BeaconHouse Public School who
achieved "top in the world" in O Level Add. Math and Mathematics; Aemen Muneeb
from BeaconHouse –Jubilee campus who achieved "top in the world" in O Level Add.
Math and Mathematics and Sana Waheed from Engro Grammar School Daharki who
received "top in the world" for A Level in Biology, Mathematics and Physics. The news